So there I was, sitting at a desk in Geneva the afternoon before I was due to give a talk, preparing away, when the computer froze, never to start up again. The hard drive (or most likely the controller on the logic board) gave up the ghost, and ceased to function. I've run all the diagnostics, and so far as they are all concerned (and this includes some clever remote startup across a wireless network) there is no hard drive inside the machine. Funny that, as it still weighs the same... Still... it could have been worse. It could have died on me during the talk. I can at least thank Apple for that...
So the trip back was marred by being unable to work, and by the extra weight of all the chocolate I brought back. And the sight of two orthodox somethings-or-other asking to be reseated in the plane because their religion did not permit them to sit next to women...
